Chelmsford engineers helping Westford women in STEM with scholarship

Joy Richard jrichard@wickedlocal.com

Wednesday

Oct 3, 2018 at 3:34 PMOct 3, 2018 at 3:34 PM

With the push to encourage girls and young women to enter the world of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) more of a trend with each year, one local engineering group has taken the opportunity to support this movement through the education.

Chelmsford-based Custom MMIC Co-Founder Paul Blount said he and his business partner MMIC Co-Founded Charlie Trantanella decided to create their scholarship fund with the initiative of providing funding for one local high school senior looking to go into the STEM field last year. Blount said the Women in Engineering Scholarship fund was originally aimed to provide one local student with funding for their next four years of college, but when the 11 candidates came in from Westford Academy and Groton-Dunstable Regional High School, they both knew there had to be more than one scholarship.

In the end three, future freshman were chosen for two $10,000 four-year scholarships and one full-ride scholarship. Westford resident Sarah McKinley, Emma Fournier of Groton and Grace Remillard of Groton. Blount and Tantanella said the hope to expand to other local communities next spring, with cities like like Chelmsford Lowell at the top of their list.

Fournier is currently a student at Tulane University studying chemical engineering. She was awarded the full scholarship, which will total more than $112,000 over the next four years. Remillard is studying at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell is majoring in electrical engineering, and McKinley is a mechanical engineering student at Clarkson University. Each were awarded partial scholarships totaling more than $40,000 over four years.

Teacher, theater played a role

McKinley said she discovered the scholarship opportunity from her Westford Academy physics teacher Tim Burns. She said she has been passionate about science and engineering since middle school and in her senior year was one of three girls in the WA robotics class.

"I just really enjoy the problem-solving aspect of it," said McKinley, who came to building and engineering not through the classroom, but through the theater department. She was helping with set design from seventh grade on and thrived in the tech education classes offered at Westford's middle schools.

She said even though the other girls her age were disinterested when it came to tech ed, and sometimes she felt like she was in a boys club, she said putting her head down and focusing on what made her happy, what kept her engaged in STEM, and what pushed her to later success.

“We are very pleased to launch our scholarship program this spring,” said Blount. “This has been a dream of mine for a few years now, so it is exciting to see it come to fruition. The three women chosen were impressive in their past accomplishments and future goals, and we are proud to play a part in their engineering education. We are also fortunate to have the Greater Lowell Community Foundation as our partner, for the logistical support they provide is a major reason we can offer these scholarships. We look forward to working with them for many years to come.”

Greater Lowell Community Foundation Vice President for Philanthropy Howard Amidom said the pair came to him with the original goal of supporting women in STEM last year. He said from there the organization, whose own goal is supporting local philanthropic endeavors, aid in creating a plan and means to find qualified scholarship candidates.

Widening the field for future engineers

Both Tantanella said many areas of science, technology, engineering and math have been dominated by men for decades. Blount said there are so few women they had a difficult time finding female engineers to be on the scholarship selection panel.

Blount, the beneficiary of financial assistance and scholarships when he was studying engineering in the United Kingdom, said it is this kind of funding is the only way he would be in this field today. He said he carried the idea with him in the back of his head. He knew someday he would give back.

"Obviously, education is a really large part of our focus," said Blount. "It is a way for everyone to better themselves."

He said on top of not having a strong female presence in STEM fields, the pair are concerned younger STEM enthusiasts are staying away from from areas like microwave, electronic and chemical engineering, which is why they have started going into middle schools as a way to inspire kids into falling in love with science.

"It is a man’s field, and it darn well shouldn’t be," said Blount. "There is nothing we can bring that [women] can’t."

He and Tantanella said every time there have been female engineers working alongside male colleagues the ideas and collaborations have been better and more well-rounded. He said the differences in the way men and women think and problem solve are a benefit to moving forward in technological developments.